Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1887-01-14

The lncrrdulity OF Eastern people
Is often observed when jhc I'M
plc truth j. told about the Wonder,
IF the Pacific Coast. While Oh visit
to the Atlantic >cal,oard. few wears
ago, the writer was frequently dis
MAYED at the evident di>truI>t with
which his statements Were some
times received regarding the climate
resources, extent and adaptahIlty oi
our Territory. TIL" p"lit" smile uf aI-
parent aciui">cucr was "i,-timr> toe
thin To- hide the thoughts reflected III
! the mirror of the mind. This is the
! experience" ui all who have cndraNUrcd
to give some idea of the far west to
! their friends in the Ep>t.
Attention has Lately been directed
to his universally acknowledged trait
OF character manifested under the cir
cumstances, called forth 10y letter Of
one of our esteemed citizens, Mr.. Rob
ert Bruce, to the Americdn Gas Linn
! Journal, in which he gave the extent
of shore line on Puget Sound (and
! truthfully too) at nearly 1000 miles
The editor of the Journat could not
! swallow this statement, nor permit il
! To 60 into print, and it Will be- seen
| from the text of the letter given below
/ that he has sL,>tuu;cd til" wurd-
% some hundred. q! :n.i,> in rircull-
/ ference" in r,f,rrlng tu uur inland sea
which Mr.. Bruce facttiously dcnomi-
mates "a duck pond" and even this
seems to have been reluctantly admit
ted among the probabilities, for in his
, Introductory remarks the editor pro-
n"unccs the letter IA "quaint" one
We reproduce it to show that Mr.
Bruce has been within hounds in every
statement he makes. The letter is
dated OLYMPIA, December l7th. and is
as follows:
Mr. Edit"r-Th;, city of OLYMPIA
Is located on the hcadwatcrS of Puget
Sound, Wash. Ter, and is IL really
beautiful place, albeit it possesses Il
population of considerably under g.
600 souls. You may Judge a. to its
climate when | say that at time of
writing the grass is green and growing
flowers are plentiful. We have a
duck pond close by, some hundreds
OF miles i'll circumference, which af-
fOrds feeding quarters and Il native
element for unlimited numbers of
wild fowls and edible fish of the choic-
est varieties; and the timber that
lines its banks grows to such height
that one has to look twice ere he dis
covers the foliage at its top. AS for
fruits and vegetables, refer you to
some of the samples contributed from
here to the late New Orleans Exhibi-
ton, amongst which was specimen
of wild gooseberry bush-the newt
able bush SO dear to the hearts of those
who boast of the glories of California
vegetatiOn-that had reached height
Of % feet. Despite all these crown
ing advantages, the great drawback to
the material and rapid advance of
Olympia's prosperity is her stretch OF
mud flats. One mile from her wharves
the greatest ship that ever was
built could ride at anchor in one of the
finest harbors in the world; but that
fatal mile does all the mischief. At
high tide there is depth of but -
feet of water ut the city's wharves
yet there is likelihood all this will be
changed, for the city authorities have
entered into IL contract which calls for
the excavation of a fairly wide chan
mel connection to deep water. Some
work has been done on this contract
and while the same was in progress IN
average distance of ITO feet per diem
was made. Owing to one cause OF
another the prosecution of the task
was deferred to the spring of 81
With a channel to deep water, if East
ern capitalists cannot perceive an
opening for judicious and profitable
investment of money, then they must
be nothing short of blind. Anyone
may easily post himself rs to the ma
tural resources of our Territory, and
in the rush sure to come it might be
well to remember that the first on
hand will have the pick of the basket
There is some talk about the U. Z.
Railroad making connection here
and they had better come while the
field is open. Now as to the local Gas
Company. We are barely paying cx-
pcnses at present, for times are cx-
tremely dull just now The Com
pany's plant is in pretty good shape,
and is valued at $4,000 The list of
officers comprises A. A. Phillips, Pres
ident; Alex. Farquhar, Treasurer, the
undersigned being Manager and Secre-
tary. In order to encourage more
liberal use of gas, we, on November /,
1885, reduced selling rates from 81 to
$3.50 per thousand cubic feet; again,
a twelvcmonth aftcrward, the price
was reduced to $3, and l can truth
fully say that every effort was made to
please our people. However, all the
encouragement we have received thus
far is a total Of 20 private consumers,
and a contract with the city for 13
public lamps. We are not discour-
aged, despite the lack of rccompensc
so far obtained, and are far from dis
posed to give up the fight"
Let us hope that the channel will
soon be an accomplished fact and that
the Olympia gas men will speedily re-
ceive the recognition due their pluck,
adds the Journal
CENTRALIA ITEMS,